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Remember that stripey hoodie I made last year with a sacrificed RTW hoodie that I ripped up to use as the pattern? I LOVE that thing – I wear it allll the time – but it’s a bit lightweight for winter. I mean, the fabric is a very flimsy jersey knit. I knew I wanted to make something with a bit more heft and warmth to it, but every fabric in my stash just seemed… wrong.

Then I bought that ridiculous chunk o’ yardage of ivory jersey from Mood and I was like, YES. White hoodie it is!

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE. This isn’t just any ol’ white hoodie – this is a white hoodie that has been lined in fluffy faux sherpa, at the pockets and the hood, for extra warmth and snuggliness!

I bought sherpa remnant while I was in Chicago last year, at the Vogue Fabric Store (Here is it on their website, I think). I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but I knew it had to come home with me! After seeing how great it looked next to the ivory knit, I knew I’d found a match made in heaven.

Since the sherpa only has a slight stretch to it, I knew I couldn’t use it for anything that was dependent on being stretchy – i.e., the body or the sleeves. This left the hood and the front pockets, both of which I lined. I cut the pattern pieces from both the knit and the sherpa, giving the sherpa an extra seam allowance at the hemmed edge. After sewing the pieces together, the smaller size of the knit meant that it easily pushed inside the lining, so I had a cute ~sherpa edge~ on the hem of my front pockets and the edge of my hood.

“But Lauren,” you might be thinking, “isn’t sherpa hard to sew? Don’t you need to use a special leather needle or risk blowing up your machine?” Naw! Not even! My sherpa is pretty thin, even with the suede backing, so it sewed up fine with a ballpoint needle (normally I would have opted for a universal needle, but we are dealing with knits on the other side here) and serged effortlessly. It also wasn’t quite as messy as other faux furs I’ve used – no fur tumbleweeds blowing around in my sewing room or anything! – but be warned that it does still shed. I was wearing my Lola Sweater Dress while working on this and by the time I was finished, I looked like I had crawled through a snowstorm. So, you know, maybe invest in a lint roller or something.

I topstitched down around the perimeter of the hood hem, which turned the sherpa into a casing where I could insert a drawstring and some little sherpa pom poms. I mean, if you’re gonna go all out – you should go all out, yeah?

Pom poms are SO easy to make, by the way!

Cut a circle out of your fabric (cut it bigger than you think you should) and baste all the way around with a long running stitch.

Gently pull one thread tail to gather, and the circle will form itself into a ball.

Before fully closing the ball, you will want to stuff it so it has some body. You can use polyfill or just fabric scraps – I decided to use some of my leftover tiger jersey because I thought it would be a fun little secret ;)

Finally, just fold gathered raw edges under and sew across the top several times, pulling the thread tight (but not so tight that it snaps!) until the hole is closed. Not pictured but you should do this anyway: make sure you put your drawstring in the hole before you close it up! I first tied a giant knit at the end of mine so it wouldn’t pull out.

Pom poms + sherpa = best hoodie ever

This hoodie was one of those weird experiments that I wasn’t sure was going to work out until the very end – the front pockets are pretty thick, thanks to the sherpa, and the hood fits a bit tighter than normal because of the multiple layers. But I really LOVE the way it turned out! Exactly as I imagined!

The only question (and the only thing I didn’t think through before plowing ahead): Um. How does one wash suede-backed sherpa?

Here are some less blown-out close-ups. Man, this thing was hard to photograph! I tried taking the pictures in my living room so it wouldn’t be quite as bright, but it’s still hard to see the details.

One thing that really upped the luxe factor of this hoodie (or, as luxe as a hoodie can get, I guess!) is the zipper I used. Instead of going to Joann and getting a plastic white zipper like I usually would, I went to my Bernina store and bought one of those special gold metal zippers that costs like $8. Ha! It’s not quite as fancy as a Riri zipper, but it’s the best thing I could find locally ;) I think it really adds a nice touch and makes the hoodie look super professional!

To get the zipper in was a bit fiddly, since I had so many layers going on at the pockets. I basted the layers together by machine, folded the edges under and fused stitch witchery in between to keep everything in place. I sewed the zipper in with two lines of straight stitching – the closest line going right up against the zipper. I used a walking foot and a ball point needle so the fabric did not move around at all.

There are those pom poms again! Ha! I LOVE them! :D

Leaving y’all with this picture because it’s so amazing. What am I even doing here, I have no idea, but it makes me laugh every time I see it.

Psssss- I just got wind that the Great British Sewing Bee is casting for Season 3! Ahh!! I know I said I don’t like participating in sewing contests, but were I qualified for this one I would be ALL over it like white on rice! Which means, if you DO qualify – go on and let us live vicariously through you! Do it do it!

i caved into internal peer pressure this weekend & went to the flea market. at first i immediately regretted my decision – october is traditionally the busiest month for our local flea market, and this year was no exception. the place was PACKED – moving was very difficult & i kept running into little old ladies who thought it was perfectly acceptable to just straight stop in the middle of the moving aisle (forreal, who thinks this is ok? anyone?). i eventually figured out that people were staying out of the sun, so as long as i avoided the air-conditioned buildings, i avoided the crowds. yay :)

anyway, let’s talk loot.

first, some patterns! i got all 4 of these for $3:
simplicity 1799

vogue 5381. someone on ebay is asking $53 for their copy lolwut. also, i definitely have the 80s version of this pattern as well. what can i say, i’m a pattern hoarder.

advance 2540. can i say now that i’m kind of weirded out that the vintage pattern wiki has a different envelope picture for what is obviously the same pattern? uhh…

mccalls b-100. now this is a weird one. it’s a basic sloper pattern, except the pattern is printed on something sturdier than tissue (it feels like mediumweight interfacing, tbh) so you can try it on and make adjustments. after you have fitted the sloper to your liking, you can make view B or C, or use the sloper to adjust a different pattern.

i’m bummed that it’s missing the instructions, but meh.

fabrics, $4 for all. the prints are cotton, and that big dark blob is actually a deep purple speckled linen.

lingerie elastic, 10 yards for $1, or rather, 40 yards total for $4. can’t wait to make slips & undies!

serger thread, $5 for the whole set. he actually had a LOT but i limited myself to only buying groups of 3. except for that orange. i needed the orange, wouldn’t you?

non-sewing related purchases:
DIS SUIT & fur collar (the collar isn’t part of the original suit, but doesn’t it look nice! i bought it from the same vendor), and this shirt (that i can’t seen to get a good picture of), $7 for all

totally randumb, but i also found snes control pads for $5 apiece:
YES.

in other sewing news, i have yet to perfect my pants muslin. i traced the pattern & pulled a GIANT horizontal tuck (like, more than 1″ sup short crotch) and added a small FBA to the rear. muslin #2 still needs work; it’s barely passable, but sarai’s clovers on the coletterie are totally smooth so i will keep chugging along. meanwhile, my muslin pants are now muslin shorts and i am running out of stretch fabric, hey-o!

happy holidays (whichever you prefer, i’m not picky!) to everyone! i’ve been MIA for the past week or so, and about to disappear again for another week due to this:
my poor bb sewing machine + serger awaiting the sewing machine doctor!

nothing is wrong with them… they just need their yearly check-up (same as you’d do for your pet, or your car, or uhh yourself). turnaround time is about a week, so i took the opportunity to drop them off today since i will be spending my new year’s weekend in new orleans :)
but i miss them already!

in other happy fun-times news, i did get a new camera for christmas! so i can start taking pictures again, although this camera is much different than my previous one so it is taking some getting used to. my pictures are pretty sucky right now, hopefully i’ll figure it out sooner than later!

oh, and i got new sewing books!
kwik sew method for sewing lingerie

singer sewing for special occasions

my brother & sister-in-law bought me a couple sewing books for christmas – tailoring and boutique apparel. i couldn’t get a good picture of them, but here is the art of sewing flickr set. aren’t they gorgeous? there is a great cape pattern in the apparel book that i am dying to try!

i also made some little fur cuffs & pom poms for my boots over the weekend :)Continue reading →

this isn’t really much a sewing-related update… i mean, there was sewing involved, but i did not get any pictures of the innards, or a before shot for that matter.

anyway, i got this great 40s navy wool(blend?) dress from my friend carmen of closet case vintage (and, uhm, if you are in the market for vintage goodies, def check her store out bc this girl has got some seriously good taste). the dress is lovely on it’s own, but it needed a little bit of work before i was ready to re-debut it.